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He shrugged. “Let’s start with the basics. What do you know about his business?”
“It’s typical Bend stuff, mostly. Moving drugs and stolen goods, collecting from the local businesses—you know the score. And he runs regular MMA fights, collects bets on them. Those have gotten pretty popular since he started them up.”
Gideon nodded, tapping the screen of a tablet he’d pulled out while I was talking. “I’ve heard about those.”
Wylder picked up a fork and twirled it between his fingers. I couldn’t help thinking of the one I’d stabbed into one of Colt’s men. “And that’s what appeals to the Katz princess in a husband?”
I glared at him. “I told you, it was a business arrangement. My father’s more than mine.”
“What made your father so eager to give away his only daughter to a rival gang?”
A strange heaviness was spreading through my head, like the grogginess just before a cold sets in. I rubbed the back of my neck. “They’d had a few clashes. Disputes over territory, interrupting deals. The kind of thing that’s inevitable. It didn’t have to be Colt. Dad would have been happy to expand his influence with any of the gangs in the Bend he could have connected me to.”
I shut my mouth before even more words could tumble out. I didn’t need to tell the guy my entire life story, for fuck’s sake. What was wrong with me?
Wylder tapped the fork against the countertop. “That’s all you were worth to Tyrell Katz? A bargaining chip?”
“And a broodmare,” I muttered without thinking, and nearly bit my tongue. I sure as hell hadn’t meant to saythat.
Something was wrong. I tried to push myself off of the stool, but my balance wobbled. I couldn’t even stand up straight.
My gaze shot to Anthea. “You—youdidpoison me.” I snatched at the knife I’d used to cut my toast, but Wylder grabbed it first and sent it spinning across the counter to his aunt. Then he put his hand on my shoulder and sat me down on my seat. My body obeyed, just like my mouth had answered his questions automatically. My stomach listed.
Anthea set her elbows on the counter and propped her chin on her folded hands. “I said I didn’t want tokillyou. This is just a little concoction to loosen your tongue and make it harder for you to lie. Most of the symptoms will recede in a bit, and you’ll barely feel anything at all.”
She was right. The heaviness in my head was easing already. My stomach was settling. But my thoughts drifted with a floating sensation, as if my mind had been cut off from the rest of my body.
These pricks. Like I would have lied to them anyway. I was the one who’d come tothem—had they forgotten that?
Of course, maybe they saw that as suspicious.
Wylder glanced over at Gideon. “Where were we?”
Gideon flicked at his tablet’s screen. “The reasons for the engagement.”
“Right.” The Noble heir turned his bright green gaze back on me. “So your father wanted any alliance he could get within the Bend to strengthen his power base, and… grandkids?”
“An heir,” I bit out, irritated with myself but unable to hold back the words. “I didn’t count, seeing as I don’t have a dick.”
Kaige made a sound as if he’d choked back a snort. Wylder moved smoothly onward. “And you went along with this because…?”
“Because it was a chance to have some kind of life he wasn’t totally controlling. Colt seemed like he’d be open to a real partnership, even if it was more business than love to begin with. You don’t know—” I managed to cut myself short before I got into the messed-up sob story of my life under Tyrell Katz.
But of course Wylder wouldn’t let it rest there. “I don’t know what?”
I forced myself to look at him head on, directing the words as well as I could while they spilled out. I could talk without telling himeverything. “He wasn’t shy about his dissatisfaction with my dickless state. It was not a happy home. Zero sunshine, zilch roses. Do you really need the gory details?”
“I think I get the picture,” he said casually, as if we were talking about a day at the park and not twenty-one years of horror. Well, fuck him.
Except no, I really shouldn’t do that. Or want to. Oh, God, how long was this brain-melting “concoction” going to last?
Gideon looked up from his tablet again, all professional cool. “Walk us through what happened last night. You said it was your rehearsal dinner?”
“Yes. Colt made all the arrangements. It was supposed to be his contribution since my father was paying for most of the wedding.” I dragged in a breath. “He picked the venue. I’m assuming now that the supposed staff were actually members of the Steel Knights. To avoid any old tensions bubbling over, both sides agreed not to bring weapons, other than a few bodyguards posted around the space who were meant to be a joint hire.”
Wylder sighed, and I remembered his disdain for that idea last night. I barreled on.
“As soon as we sat down at the table, the servers, the bodyguards, and Colt and his men pulled guns on everyone on the Katz side and just opened fire. I saw most of them dead with my own eyes—my dad, my aunts and uncles, my grandmother…” I paused, swallowing hard. “Colt ordered them to take me down too, but I managed to get to the door and grab a car outside.”
